Children's metacognition: Exploring relations among knowledge,process, and motivational variables

Following a metamemory pretest, 60 first and third grade children (6 and 8 years of age, respectively) were divided into three treatment groups which received task-specific strategy instructions appropriate for three memory problems, general metacognitive information about subordinate and superordinate processing, or both strategy and metacognitive training. Maintenance and generalization versions of the memory tasks were given, followed by an attributional assessment of children's perceptions of the causes for specific success and failure outcomes. Post-training scores on the memory tasks showed that strategy training was highly successful. Metacognitive training appeared to have no effect on the metameory or strategy scores with one exception: metamemory and strategy use on the generalization task were significantly correlated only for children who received both metacognitive and strategy training. Apparently, children who were initially high in metamemory skills profited more from the comprehensive training package, using new metacognitive insights to aid the generalization of acquired strategies to the transfer tasks. Among strategy-trained children those who attributed success to effort were both more strategic and higher in metamemory than those who attributed task outcomes to noncontrollable factors such as ability or task characteristics. Results were discussed in terms of the interactive nature of knowledge, process, and motivational variables as determinants of strategy transfer.     

Development of strategic skills in impulsive and reflective children: a longitudinal study of metacognition

This study examined the relationships between metamemory and strategic behavior in impulsive and reflective children. One hundred thirty children from the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades participated. Seventy-seven of these children had been tested 3 years earlier on metamemory and cognitive tempo tasks. At pretraining, children were assessed on metamemory, cognitive tempo, summarization skills, and teacher ratings of impulsive behavior in the classroom. Next, children in three experimental groups received prose summarization instructions, summarization instructions in conjunction with metacognitive training about the importance of a reflective approach to learning, or no instructions. Following training, children were again measured on tempo, summarization skills, and teacher ratings of impulsivity. Analyses of strategy maintenance data indicated superior performance for children who had received both summarization and metacognitive training. Causal modeling analyses showed that early metamemory was an antecedent of later strategy acquisition. The dual role of metacognition as a precursor of later strategy acquisition and controller of lower level strategies was highlighted.     

Metamemory and academic achievement: testing the validity of a group-administered metamemory battery

This study was designed to assess the validity of a recently introduced group-administered battery of metamemory tasks for children and to concurrently assess the relationship between performance on these tasks and academic achievement for second- and fourth-grade normal and learning-disabled (LD) children. Consistent with theoretical predictions and with results from individually administered metamemory tasks, significant age-related performance differences were found for four of the battery's five subtests. However, three of these four performance differences appeared to be due to a floor effect--that is, the second graders performed at chance levels for all but one of the subtests. Nevertheless, modest zero-order correlations between academic achievement measures and scores on metamemory subtests, which did show interpretable age-related performance differences, were found, as were significant group (normal versus LD) differences for fourth graders. In all, these results provided some support for the validity and the utility of the group-administered metamemory battery, although the performance of young children must be interpreted with caution.     

The Effect of Age and Socio-Cultural Factors on Self-Rated Well-Being and Metacognitive and Mnestic Efficiency Among Healthy Elderly People

The aim of the present research was to investigate the effect of cross-cultural and age-related factors on self-referent metacognitive efficiency, psychological well-being, and mnestic performance in late adulthood. Ninety-three healthy adults recruited in individualistic northwest Italian and collectivistic Sardinian contexts were respectively assigned to the Old (i.e., 65–74 years) and Very Old (i.e., ≥ 75 years) groups and were individually administered a battery of well-being and metacognitive measures and working memory tasks. A series of MANOVAs was carried out on well-being and metacognitive measures and working memory tasks. Sardinians showed greater levels of perceived well-being, less marked psychological distress, and more preserved mnestic functions than the controls from the northwest Italian context. Moreover, participants from the Old group self-referred more coping strategies, emotional competencies, and personal satisfaction, and less depressive symptoms. Then, a hierarchical linear regressions where different socio-demographic, working memory metacognitive and social desirability measures were used as predictors of general psychological well-being shows that socio cultural context, social desirability, visuo-spatial sequential working memory and metamemory measures predict perceived well-being. Socio-cultural contexts emphasizing the positive social role of the elderly seem to promote psychological well-being, that is, life quality in late adulthood.     

Longitudinal Relations Between Theory of Mind and Metacognition and the Impact of Language

This study investigated the longitudinal relation between children's theory of mind and their metacognitive knowledge with a special focus on the impact of language on this relation. Measures of theory-of-mind understanding and metamemory knowledge were assessed in 133 3-year-old children at 4 measurement points separated by half-year intervals. Results revealed a somewhat more pronounced effect of children's early theory of mind on the change in metamemory knowledge than vice versa. This effect was almost independent of the time period under investigation as well as of earlier language and nonverbal competencies and socioeconomic status. Early language competencies had a direct impact on theory-of-mind and metamemory development and moreover indirectly affected metamemory development through children's theory of mind. The results of the study suggest that children's abilities to metarepresent together with their early language competencies are important in the acquisition of metamemory knowledge.     

Intuition, reason, and metacognition

Dual Process Theories (DPT) of reasoning posit that judgments are mediated by both fast, automatic processes and more deliberate, analytic ones. A critical, but unanswered question concerns the issue of monitoring and control: When do reasoners rely on the first, intuitive output and when do they engage more effortful thinking? We hypothesised that initial, intuitive answers are accompanied by a metacognitive experience, called the Feeling of Rightness (FOR), which can signal when additional analysis is needed. In separate experiments, reasoners completed one of four tasks: conditional reasoning (N = 60), a three-term variant of conditional reasoning (N = 48), problems used to measure base rate neglect (N = 128), or a syllogistic reasoning task (N = 64). For each task, participants were instructed to provide an initial, intuitive response to the problem along with an assessment of the rightness of that answer (FOR). They were then allowed as much time as needed to reconsider their initial answer and provide a final answer. In each experiment, we observed a robust relationship between the FOR and two measures of analytic thinking: low FOR was associated with longer rethinking times and an increased probability of answer change. In turn, FOR judgments were consistently predicted by the fluency with which the initial answer was produced, providing a link to the wider literature on metamemory. These data support a model in which a metacognitive judgment about a first, initial model determines the extent of analytic engagement.     

The anchoring effect in metamemory monitoring

Judgments about future memory performance (metamemory judgments) are known to be susceptible to illusions and bias. Here we asked whether metamemory judgments are affected, like many other forms of judgment, by numerical anchors. Experiment 1 confirmed previous research showing an effect of informative anchors (e.g., past peer performance) on metamemory monitoring. In four further experiments, we then explored the effects of uninformative anchors. All of the experiments obtained significant anchoring effects on metamemory monitoring; in contrast, the anchors had no effect on recall itself. We also explored the anchoring effect on metamemory control (restudy choices) in Experiment 4. The results suggested that anchors can affect metamemory monitoring, which in turn affects metamemory control. The present research reveals that informative and, more importantly, uninformative numbers that have no influence on recall itself can bias metamemory judgments. On the basis of the current theoretical understanding of the anchoring effect and metamemory monitoring, these results offer insight into the processes that trigger metacognitive biases.     

Racial differences in intelligence: The importance of the executive system

The race-IQ controversy arose at a time when psychometric views of intelligence dominated. Little attention was paid to more process-oriented models in spite of the fact they provide alternative perspectives on the causes of individual differences in problem-solving. We hypothesized that much of the IQ spread commonly observed between black and white children can be attributed to differences in components of their executive systems, including the knowledge base, control processes, and metacognitive states. To test this possibility, black and white children who differed significantly on fluid and crystallized intelligence were tested on multiple tasks reflecting components of the executive systems as well as on perceptual efficiency tasks. Striking group differences were observed in metamemory, stragegy use, and general knowledge, but few reliable differences were found in perceptual efficiency. Regression analyses showed that different factors predicted fluid and crystallized intelligence, with metamemory predicting the latter but not the former. An implication of these findings has potential educational significance: training directed at executive skills, introduce at an early age, might elevate learning and problem-solving skills in black children, thereby reducing racial differences in crystallized intelligence.     

Knowledge and behavior relationships in the memory ability of retarded and nonretarded students

Twenty mildly mentally retarded adolescents were matched with two groups of nonretarded students, one of the same chronological age (CA 16) and the other of the same mental age (MA 9), to examine the influence of age and metamemory on recall. This was achieved using an adapted metamemory instrument which included relevant recall tasks. Recall scores showed that when tasks exhibited some organizational features, the retarded group was as accurate as their CA counterparts; when tasks were less organized, they responded much like their MA counterparts. Regression analyses indicated that, depending on task characteristics, chronological age emerged as a significant predictor of recall in certain situations, and in others, mental age accounted for more variance. Metamemory responses in one task accounted for more variance than either CA or MA.     

Physical home environment is associated with prefrontal cortical thickness in adolescents

Biologically embedded experiences alter developmental trajectories in ways that can influence health, learning, and/or behavior. These systematic differences in experiences may contribute to different biological outcomes as individuals grow and develop, including at the neural level. Previous studies of biologically embedded experiences on neurodevelopment have focused on large‐scale institutional or economic factors (e.g. socioeconomic status [SES]) and psychosocial factors (e.g. caregiving behavior). Less attention has focused on how the quality of the immediate home settings, such as the physical home environment (PHYS), influences neurodevelopment. Moreover, no study has investigated these effects in adolescents, who undergo significant physical maturation and neurodevelopment that may influence how they respond to their physical environments. The goal of the current study was to examine whether PHYS quality is biologically embedded in the developing adolescent brain as evidenced by cognitive achievement and cortical development in 56 (48% female) healthy adolescents (14–18 years (M = 16.83 years, SD = 1.17). Using in‐home assessments of the physical home environment, anatomical brain scans, and indices of academic achievement, we found that adolescents who have more physical problems in the home (e.g. structural hazards, crowding, excessive noise, poorly lit) have thinner prefrontal cortices, which was associated with lower levels of reading achievement, independent of SES and psychosocial factors. By conducting home visits to assess physical characteristics of adolescents’ home, we highlight a typically overlooked aspect of the home environment that has relevance for adolescents’ cognitive and brain development.     

课堂成就目标定向、任务难度、学业水平与元认知监控策略运用

以217名高中生为被试,采用计算机监控的活动操作法,探讨课堂成就目标定向、任务难度对不同学业水平学生元认知监控策略运用的影响。结果表明：（1）课堂掌握目标定向下均比在课堂成绩目标定向下更多地运用元认知监控策略;（2）高学业学生在较难任务上比较易任务上更多地运用元认知监控策略;低学业学生,在课堂掌握目标定向下．在较难任务上比较易任务上更多地使用元认知监控策略;在课堂成绩目标定向下,与课堂掌握目标定向情形相反;（3）临场动机中的自我效能感、目标方向、努力程度在课堂成就目标定向、任务难度对元认知监控策略的影响中具有中介作用。     

Metacognition and memory for nonoccurrence

A familiar hypothesis about the recognition of distractor items as "new" is that it depends heavily on a metacognitive strategy in which the memorability or salience of the distractor is evaluated: if the item was deemed salient or memorable and yet no memory trace for it can be found, then it must not have been studied (e.g. Strack & Bless, 1994). In four experiments, no evidence was found to support this metamemory hypothesis. Experiments 1a, 1b, and 2 demonstrated that the judged salience of the stimuli did not predict participants' recognition judgements for distractors. In Experiments 3a and 3b, instructional manipulations designed to affect the ostensible metacognitive process failed to affect the recognition judgements. Finally, Experiment 4 indicated that confidence judgements do not support the predictions of the metamemory hypothesis.     

呈现方式、自我效能感和成就动机对FOK判断影响的研究

以英汉配对词为实验材料探讨了呈现方式、自我效能感和成就动机对ＦＯＫ判断（Ｆｅｅｌｉｎｇ ｏｆ Ｋｎｏｗｉｎｇ）的影响,被试是１４４名大学生。实验结果表明：（１）呈现方式、自我效能感和成就动机均显著影响ＦＯＫ判断等级的高低和判断的准确性;（２）自我效能感和成就动机在影响ＦＤＫ判断方面有显著的交互作用,成就动机对ＦＤＫ判断的作用受自我效能感影响;（３）被试的回忆成绩、再认成绩和ＦＤＫ判断准确性之间均有显著的正相关,表明客体记忆与无记忆之间有较密切的联系。     

Relations between children’s metamemory and strategic performance: Time-varying covariates in early elementary school

Although much is known about the development of memory strategies and metamemory during childhood, evidence for linkages between these memory skills, either concurrently or over time, has been limited. Drawing from a longitudinal investigation of the development of memory, repeated assessments of children’s (N = 107) strategy use and declarative metamemory were made to examine the development of these skills and the relations between them over time. Latent curve models were used first to estimate the trajectories of children’s strategy use and metamemory and then to examine predictors of children’s performance in each of these domains. Children’s metamemory at the beginning of Grade 1 was linked to child- and home-level factors, whereas the development of both skills was related to maternal education level. Additional modeling of the longitudinal relations between strategic sorting and metacognitive knowledge indicated that metamemory at earlier time points was predictive of subsequent strategy use.     

“Spontaneous” strategy use: Perspectives from metacognitive theory

A metacognitive model was proposed as an explanatory framework for spontaneous strategy use. Interactive components of the model, including specific strategy knowledge, metamemory acquisition procedures, general strategy knowledge, and attributional beliefs, were shown to account, in part, for unprompted strategy use. A study in which hyperactive children transferred newly acquired strategies following self-control training and attributional retraining served as an illustration of how components in the metacognitive model can be used to better understand “spontaneity.” Finally, relationships among domain-specific knowledge, automaticity, general intelligence, and metacognitive knowledge were discussed.     

Metamemory, memory performance, and causal attributions in gifted and average children

Fifth and seventh graders who had been teacher-selected as high- or average-achieving were tested on the Kognitiver F?higkeits Test, a standardized test of intellectual abilities for German children. Children who met preestablished criteria as gifted or average were then tested on measures of metacognitive knowledge, attributional beliefs, and performance on a sort recall task. Results indicated ability-related differences in metamemory and sort recall performances. Responses to the attributional questionnaires also varied systematically according to ability: gifted children were more likely to attribute their academic successes to high ability than were average children, who showed a stronger belief in the importance of effort in determining task outcomes. Causal modeling analyses illustrated the strength of metacognitive knowledge as a performance predictor on the memory task, especially for average children. Results are discussed in terms of the value of metacognitive theory in understanding individual performance differences.     

The roles of imagery,language, and metamemory in cross-modal transfer in children

Summary The relative strengths of association of imagery, language, and metamemory to cross-modal transfer were evaluated in 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds. Children were administered either tactual-visual or visual-tactual cross-modal transfer tasks, as well as two visual imagery tasks (spatial recall and mental rotation), two language competence tasks (vocabulary and word usage), metamemory questions, and a general intelligence task. With intelligence and handedness controlled, only visual imagery related significantly to cross-modal transfer. These findings suggest that mental imagery, as opposed to language competence or metamemory, is a principal component of cross-modal transfer, and they are consistent with the observation that preverbal human infants and infrahuman primates exhibit cross-modal transfer.     

Metacognitive monitoring of attention performance and its influencing factors

Metacognitive monitoring is a central element of metacognitive processing exerting widespread influences on information processing. Albeit being subject to numerous empirical investigations referring to memory performance, there is little research investigating metacognitive monitoring in other cognitive domains. The present study investigated in 45 healthy students whether factors that are known to influence monitoring of memory performance, i.e. task difficulty, time of assessment, and practice, also exhibit a significant impact on monitoring of attention performance. A multivariate analysis of variance with three within-subject repeated measures factors on two dependent variables (monitoring of (a) time, and (b) errors in an attention task) was conducted. Results showed that monitoring ability significantly decreased with increasing task difficulty, was significantly better for post than for pre-assessment, and significantly increased with practice. Therefore, results suggest that the examined factors influenced monitoring of attention performance equivalent to the influence of these factors found in metamemory research.     

Growth curve models in retrospective memory and prospective memory: the relationship between prediction and performance with task experience

Older adults commonly experience declines in episodic memory that affect their daily lives. The aim was to examine whether the acquired metacognitive awareness that comes with task experience, indexed by meta-retrospective memory (meta-RM)/meta-prospective memory (meta-PM), influences how older adults predict performance on later trials. Participants were 178 community-dwelling older adults. RM performance and predictions were measured using a multi-trial word-list learning task. Predictions and performance for PM were measured using a PM paradigm. Change in RM/PM performance and predictions over the trials/blocks were modelled using latent growth curve analyses. For RM, both predictions and performance increased with task experience. However, for PM, neither performance nor predictions changed with task experience. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that metacognitive awareness acquired during the RM and PM tasks influenced how older adults’ modified their predictions of subsequent task performance. Findings are consistent with [Toglia and Kirk’s (2000). Understanding awareness deficits following brain injury. NeuroRehabilitation, 15(1), 57–70] hypothesis that individuals compare ongoing performance to expectations based on metacognitive knowledge, such that a discrepancy between actual and expected performance may influence emergent awareness.     

The effects of co-witness discussion on confidence and precision in eyewitness memory reports

We examined the influence of co-witness discussion on the metacognitive regulation of memory reports. Participants (N?=?92) watched a crime video. Later, a confederate confidently agreed with (gave confirming feedback), disagreed with (gave disconfirming feedback), or gave no feedback (control) regarding participants’ answers to questions about the video. Participants who received disconfirming feedback reported fewer fine-grain details than participants in the confirming and control conditions on a subsequent, individual recall test for a different question set. Unexpectedly, this decrease in fine-grain reporting was not accompanied by a decrease in participants’ confidence in the accuracy of their fine-grain responses. These results indicate that receiving social comparative feedback about one’s memory performance can affect rememberers’ metamemorial control decisions, and potentially decrease the level of detail they volunteer in later memory reports. Further research is needed to assess whether these results replicate under different experimental conditions, and to explore the effects of social influences on metamemory.